Seattle

Finally we have made a decision to move back to Chicago, our home after home. S says this was the toughest decision he has ever taken. It was very difficult for me also because we have fallen in love with Seattle in these seven months but Chicago has been our home for 10 years. We have built our nest there and our eggs were hatched in that nest 
S planned the move to Seattle and everything perfectly fell in place. We settled down very quickly, started my job one week earlier than the decided date. Even found and visited a pediatrician within that week as little A was sick. We liked the pediatrician here over our old one. My office and the kid’s school were very close to my office, 5 mins drive. Intially missed A’s old school but the new one was also very good. The interesting part was, there was another kid in the same class who had a same name as older A. Not only the name, they shared the same birthday. How interesting! Two moms decided to name there babies the same on the same day in a country half across the world from your home.
S had a flexible schedule. My mom flew down to help us out and that was the best part as I didn’t have to worry about little A. Mom took over the kitchen and kids. Kids got totally attached to her and didn’t miss me when I was at work. This helped me in settling down in my job as that was busy period and we were expected to work overtime and on Saturdays. Mom even took kids with her to India when she was leaving after 5 months of stay. We celebrated our 10th anniversary here. We celebrated our 2010 birthday season here.
When we left Chicago it was freezing and it was beautiful in Seattle mid forties and sunny. The winter turned out to be very mild. We had an early spring which started mid-Feb. Seattle is very beautiful in spring with all the flower blooms. The cherry blossoms were beautiful and we have never seen them before. The area around our house and office was filled with flowers of various colors and sizes. The weather is mild here in both winters and summer.
Seattle is surrounded by majestic mountains, flowing rivers, great lakes. Seattle is the second fittest city in the country. One can see people walking, running and doing lots of outdoor activities all around the year. Tons of parks and every street has a bike lane. Every stop light has a pedestrian signal option. The atmosphere motivates you to go out, spend some calories and enjoy the fresh air. People here are very environment cautious. They have taken utmost care to preserve the nature and for the coming generations to enjoy it. Since its small place there is no city buzz and chaos but has quite a few high tech companies and numerous job opportunities. One doesn’t have to drive long distances to get from one place to another.
We have visited Snoqualmie falls, Mt.Rainier, Hurricane Ridge, Ocean shores. We tried whale watching but couldn’t find any whales . We did white water rafting in Wenatchee River and kayaking in Lake Sammamish. S played racquet ball in winter and tennis in summer in our apartments. A had tons of kid to play with. We made some good friends in this short time. Our apartment itself was very spacious, well ventilated and made us forgot our house except for the kitchen part. We are going to miss all of this once we go back to Chicago. Our Seattle stay was fun. We have good and happy memories to take back. Thank you Seattle for making our stay a pleasant one!

Conversation

Scene:
Driving with both the kids and stopped at a red light. A was 3.5 yrs old

A: Amma, I see a Honda car, just like ours.
Me: Yes Chinnu, its Honda but not same model as ours.
A: What’s our car model?
Me: Honda FIT
A: Oh! Then theirs is Honda loose!

Happy Friday

Last Friday was my last day at work. My contract was shortened due to the reductions going on in the company. My manager really felt bad about the whole thing and he paid me a day without giving any work. That was very nice of him. That was our nanny’s last day also. BH and I decided to take advantage of the situation. We went to the theaters across the street and watched Quantum of Solace. When we moved into this house, I was very happy that the thearters were next door. But we hardly watched any movies in these four years because of the little ones. This was our third movie after Wedding Crashers and Rush Hour -3.
It was the first day of the movie. The theaters were quiet not too crowded. As soon as we entered, I saw many white heads in the dark. Looks like the seniors citizen picked the daytime show to avoid rush in the evenings. The movie was nice but didn’t meet the 007 movie expectations I had. This bond didn’t use any high tech gadgets and was more physical like the Bourne series. I like Pierce Brosnan over the current bond. I think Brosnan is more charismatic, romantic and has a style. Overall it turned out to be a very pleasant Friday.

Venkateshwara Suprabhatam

I am trying to learn this shlokam by heart. Here are the verses.

Kowsalya supraja Rama poorva sandhya
pravarthathe Uthishta narasardoola
karthavyam daivamahnikam (Twice)
Uthishtothishta Govinda uthishta
garudadhwaja Uthishta
kamalakantha thrilokyam mangalam kuru (Twice)
Mathassamasta jagatham madukaitabhare:
Vakshoviharini manohara divyamoorthe
Sree swamini srithajana priya danaseele
Sree Venkatesadayithe thava suprabhatham

Thavasuprabhathamaravindalochane
Bhavathu prasanna mukhachandra mandale
Vidhisankarendra vanithabhirarchithe
Vrishasaila natha dayithe dayanidhe

atryadi-saptarsayas samupasya sandhyam
aksasindhu-kamalani manoharani
adaya padayugam archayitum prapanna
sesadri-sekhara-vibho! tava suprabhatam

panchananabjabhava sanmukha vasavadyah traivikramadi charitam vibudhah stuvanti,
bhasapatith pathati vasarasuddhim arat
sesadri-sekhara-vibho! tava suprabhatam

isatpraphulla-sarasiruha-narikela- pugadrumadi-sumanohara-palikanam avati mandam anilah saha divyagandhaih sesadri-sekhara-vibho! tava suprabhatam

unmilya netrayugam uttama-panjarastah
patravasista-kadaliphalapayasani,
bhuktva salilam atha kelisukhah pathanti
sesadri-sekara-vibho! tava suprabhatam

tantriprakarsa-madhurasvanaya vipanchya gayaty anantacharitam tava narado’pi bhasasamagram asakrt-karachararamyam
sesadri-sekhara-vibho! tava suprabhatam.

bhrngavali cha makaranda-rasanuviddha- jhankaragita-ninadaih saha sevanaya, niryaty upanta-sarasi-kamalodarebhyah
sesadri-sekhara-vibho! tava suprabhatam.

yosa-ganena vara-dadhni vimathyamane ghosalayesu dadhimanthana-tivraghosah,
rosat kalim vidadhate kakubhas cha kumbhah
sesadri-sekhara-vibho! tava suprabhatam.

padmesa-mitra-satapatra-gatalivargah
hartum sriyam kuvalayasya nijanga-laksmya,
bherininadam iva bibhrati tivra-nadam
sesadri-sekhara-vibho! tava suprabhatam.
srimann abhista-varadakhila-lokabandho! srisrinivasa!jagadeka-dayaikasindho! sridevata-grha-bhujantara-divyamurte!
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam

srisvami-puskarinika-plava-nirmalangah sreyorthino hara-virinchi-sanandanadyah,
dvare vasanti varavetra- hatottamangah
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam.

sri-sesasaila-garudachala-venkatadri- narayanadri-vrsabhadri-vrsadri-mukhyam,
akhyam tvaduta-vasater anisam vadanit
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam.

sevaparah siva-suresa-krsanu-dharma- raksombunatha-pavamana-dhanadhinathah, baddhanjali-pravilasan nijasirsa-desah
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam.

dhatisu te vihangaraja-mrgadhiraja-
nagadhiraja-gajaraja-hayadhirajah, svasvadhikara-mahimadikam arthayante
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam.

suryendu-bhauma-budha-vakpati-kavya-sauri
svarbhanu-kettu-divisat parisat pradhanah,
tvaddasa-dasa-charamavadhi-dasadasah
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam.

tvat-padadhuli-bharita-sphuritottamangah svargapavarga-nirapeksa-nijanarangah, kalpagamakalanayakulatam labhante
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam.

tvad-gopuragra-sikharani niriksamanah svargapavarga-padavim paramamsrayantah,
martya manusya-bhuvane matim-asrayante
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam.

sri-bhumi-nayaka! dayadi-gunamrtabdhe! devadhideva!jagadeka-saranyamurte,
srimann-ananta-garudadibhir architanghre!
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam

sripadmanabha! purusottama! vasudeva!
vaikuntha! madhava! janardana! chakrapane!
srivasta-chihna! sarangata-parijata!
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam

kandarpa-darpa-hara-sundara-divyamurte!
kanta-kucamburuha-kutmala-loladrste! kalyana-nirmala-gunakara! divyakirte! sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam

minakrte!kamatha!kola!nrsimha!varnin! svamin!parasvatha-tapodhana!ramachandra!
sesamsarama! yadunandana! kalkirupa!
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam

ela-lavanga-ghanasara-sugandhi-tirtham divyam viyat-sariti hema-ghatesu purnam, dhrtvadya vaidika-sikhamanayah prahrstah tisthanti venkatapate tava suprabhatam

bhasvan udeti vikachani saroruhani sampurayanti ninadaih kakubho vihangah,
srivaisnavas satatam arthita-mangalas te dhamasrayanti tava venkata! suprabhatam.

brahmadayas suravaras samaharsayas te santas sanadana-mukhastv atha yogivaryah,
dhamantike tava hi mangala-vastu-hastah
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam

laksminivasa! niravadya-gunaika-sindho! samsara-sagara-samuttaranaika-seto!
vedantu-vedya-nijavaibhava! bhaktabhogya!
sri-venkatachalapate! tava suprabhatam

Barack Obama

About four years ago, my friends and I, were standing on Devon Street to watch the Independence Day parade. The street was very crowded and people were waiting to see Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Dutt, the brand ambassadors for that year. Then there were a few people distributing flyers and an African American came along and shook hands with us and asked us to vote for him. I had no clue who that was. I asked BH and he said he was contesting for Illinois senator. His name was Barack Obama and the Indian community was giving support to him. BH says there are two kinds of questions. The first type is where you want to know the information and you are curious to know. The second type is where you ask a question just because you want to ask something. You don’t really care about the answer. I had asked the later type. I had just graduated and had landed in a job and was feeling like I had conquered the world, which was true for then. The next aim in life was just to have fun after all that hard work. So, I didn’t have any interest to know whom I shook hands with.

Today there is no one in the country who doesn’t know him. His hard work, planning, strategy and clear goals in life have brought him to where he is now and to the white house, to lead the country in a little bit. One can learn what can be achieved in a span of four years from his example. He came from nothing to becoming a possible president of one of the powerful nations of the country without any strong political background. I kind of followed his campaign and I am very impressed with his confident charismatic speeches. Lot of the money raised for his campaign was given by the common people. The denominations were as small as $100. This shows how much popularity he has gained with common man. I have become his fan neither because he is a democrat nor due to his policies and plans for the country but I like him because of his achievement as an individual. Now I am adding him to my list of people to look up to for inspiration.

Askhay's Dairy

This is a post to record little A's milestones.

April 16th 2008: Akshay came into this world @ 11.38 PM.
April 30th: Gave his first smile.
April 30th: Umbilical cord dried off.
September 1st: Rolled over onto his tummy.
September 3rd: Started eating solid foods ( Rice cereal).
October 13th: Crawled for the first time.
October 14th: Pulled the toe to his mouth.
October 30th: First tooth erupted.
October 31st: Second tooth erupted.
November 2nd: Sat on his own.
November 14th: Clapped.
November 22nd: Stood up with support.

Prajarajyam

This catchy name is the party that chiru has established to enter into Andhra politics. Chiranjeevi (fondly called as chiru by fans) is following the foot steps of late N.T.Rama Rao. I don’t remember how NTR came into politics as I was a kid but I know he was very popular and won a huge majority. My guess is that might not happen in Chiru’s case. He first started his political career from Tirupathi, the adobe of Lord Venkateshwara. I happen to watch this event. Thanks to Maa Tv and my Hubby for making this happen. After too much of thinking, finally BH decided to have telugu channels. Before taking any action BH analyses on the pros and cons of the issue. I always tell him that he is a good thinker :-). Oops! The post is not about BH but Prajarajyam.

The Tirupathi meet was chaotic. I think it was not well organized and planned. By the end of the function the stage was full of allari mukka. There was no proper order. It appeared more like a santha rather than a party meeting. I have been following the election campaign here closely. The presidential candidate’s speeches are too good. They prioritize the issues. Chiru’s speech was too long, about 50 pages are so. It was not charismatic like YSR or Chandra Babu. He was reading it directly from the papers and looked like he had no clue what was in the papers before hand. It sounded like he was delivering dialogues rather than speech. Every issue was on his priority list from telengana to farmers to students to inflation to naxalism to secularism.

The literacy rate has increased in the state form the period of NTR to present. People do think before voting in favor of any party. So lets wait and see how much people will favor Chiru and Prajarajyam.